Pick 40: Andrew McPherson

MELBOURNE, AUSTRALIA - JUNE 30: Andrew McPherson of South Australia poses during the 2017 Under 18 Championships portrait session at Etihad Stadium on June 30, 2017 in Melbourne, Australia. (Photo by Scott Barbour/AFL Media)

BIO: A medium-sized defender who reads the ball well and has a nice balance of defence and attack. Can also play on the wing. A graduate of the NAB AFL Academy, McPherson has good endurance, neat skills and footy smarts. He represented South Australia at the Under 18 Championships as a ‘bottom-aged’ player in 2016, but the vice-captain missed the entire carnival this year because of injury. Didn’t test at the Draft Combine in October. McPherson has impressed clubs with his professional approach and is studying sports mechanical engineering at Adelaide University.